Having gifted the town with sets from Arctic Monkeys and The Good, The Bad & The Queen during the previous month, Warrington’s lovely Parr Hall is fast gaining a reputation as the perfect ‘try out’ venue for large acts nervously edging towards full tours and festival appearances.
Having taken two years to escape the horrors of jaded band syndrome, Travis have returned armed with a new album, The Boy With No Name, and are simply bristling with songs of gentle pop intelligence and frighteningly instant appeal. The pre-album single, Closer, slotting neatly into fourth place in this set, had the lively crowd swaying in a state of apparent recognition within 20 seconds. Quite an achievement, given that few people in the audience could possibly have heard it before. Similarly, the Motown attack of Selfish Jean, another achingly obvious hit, seems to have already carved out its own permanence within the Travis live performance.
If the task in hand was to fit these new songs firmly into place, then it certainly proved successful. In fact, such was the effortless nature of this appearance, they could have pushed their luck a little further with the inclusion of, say, Battleships, a soaring account of marital strife.
Travis being Travis, however, they chose to retreat to the safety of a bed of classics. And who can blame them? Driftwood, Turn,
